One of the reasons why we (as a nation) continue to do nothing may be, that, even with a real unemployment rate of 16%, that still leaves the vast majority (84%) with jobs. These unemployed, and the additional under-employed, are too busy with survival to mount any political action and of course they have no millions for lobbyists to advance their cause.
The 84% employed are also intimidated by the political and corporate climate so they either remain silent or join the Halleluiah chorus of corporate sycophants to give themselves a false feeling of security by being on the “right side” with the “right” opinions, etc etc. Meanwhile, the “frog in the water” heat continues to build with the 40 connected dots in this article alone.
The facts are clear but who today cannot spin whatever “reality” from whatever facts are presented. Plus, we have an intellectual climate which has for years undermined any such thing as “the truth”, and so we are left with nothing except opinions, and, of course, mine is as good as yours. My ability to make my view the majority is limited only by the amount of money I have to repeat my “talking points” in every venue known while exploiting every human limitation that social science has uncovered.
We are like the great and powerful wizard of Oz who upon leaving Oz in a hot air balloon without Dorothy cannot make even the short trip back because, as he says, “I can’t, . . .I don’t know how it works”. And so, hopefully we may learn with Dorothy that we do not need the great and powerful fraud; We have the power ourselves to get us back home again.
